Spiritual Growth

  A significant number of the faithful are unwilling to be part of any assembly of the Lord because they desire a personal faith with God, one that is not diluted by the hypocrisy and imperfections of others. They do not want to deal with the politics, social chaos, and perhaps they do not approve of the power structure and wealth distribution within the assembly.   God is not confined to a temple building; we are His temple. Since we can have faith and a relationship with the Lord without the barriers of Pharisees, it is not difficult for many faithful to maintain a personal relationship with God without being members of any assembly.   The problem is, we are the body of Christ, and the body needs unity. This unity extends to all born-again believers around the world, led by the Holy Spirit. However, there are people close to you—those who live in your town or area—and it is expected that you will have a special unity with the faithful around you. Furthermore, there are ...

In this life and in this very moment, we are part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Right now, we are in the sky, in high places with God. We are in the Sunday of God and in the Kingdom of God. We are seated on the right side of the Lord in heavenly places, with Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Heavenly Father. We are on earth, but only as ambassadors of Heaven, as foreigners of the heavenly government, which owns this earth. This earth is ours, and no one has a greater right to it than us, for it belongs to God. However, our kingdom and citizenship are in Heaven. This is because the Holy Spirit is within us, and we are united with Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Heavenly Father. Yet, we are not the center of Heaven or the Kingdom of Heaven. An embassy of any government is not the center of that government. We are the branch of the Heavenly Government. The center of Heaven and the Heavenly Government is the Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven is not defined by us or optimized around us; ...

  The first thing that God desires from people is to listen to His word and to have faith in it. After all, “… faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Did not Jesus love Mary, who sat at His feet to listen to Him and called Him teacher, rather than Martha, who worked tirelessly to serve Him? Only a fool would neglect the word of God, even in the act of serving God. Mary is better than Martha. That is why it was Mary who wept at His burial site, not Martha. After listening to the word of God, the next step is obedience.   Jesus said, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matthew ...

There are three kinds of lies. One is a white lie of the fools. Everyone knows it is a lie but a fool lies anyway. There is statistics as a second lie. Statistics, unless used by honest people with the necessary knowledge and integrity, can paint any color on anything. The third one is a true lie. A lie that is believed to be true by many for an extended period, and it, as a result, becomes an abomination and immoral to question it. Imagine a king who is going to save the people from their oppressors, yet he cannot even defend himself. He must be the messiah pretender, therefore, and crucifying him will be common sense judgment, right?   The salvation that God was speaking of, at least, in that period, however, was salvation from sin, the devil, and death. God’s thinking is as high as heaven but the fools were as low as earth. That true lie did not only stumble those fools; but also the chosen one, John the Baptist. Even close families of the lord thought Jesus was crazy and ne...

  Our God, the one and only God, is almighty and all-knowing. As the all-knowing God, nothing in the past, present, or future is hidden from Him. He does not need to exist simultaneously in the present and future to know what will happen; He simply knows it with perfect certainty. The only complexity in this divine knowledge is our free will, which God grants us, just as He Himself possesses the freedom to love holiness and hate sin. Yet, even with our free will, God can foresee all possible futures and predict the outcomes of our choices. To ensure that the future He desires comes to pass, God works tirelessly, day and night. Much of heaven’s work revolves around shaping the future God prefers, accounting for our freedom to choose between right and wrong. In this process, God sees into the minds and thoughts of every human and devil as clearly as one sees through transparent glass. He perceives their intentions even before they fully form. No force of darkness is hidden from Him; ...

  Our God, who is the only God there is, is almighty and all -knowing God. If God is all -knowing God, however, nothing in the past, in the present, and the future will be hidden from him. God does not have to live in the present and the future, at the same time, to know the future; he just has to predict it without error. The only complication in this process is our free will, as God allows us to have free will as he has free will to love holiness and to hate sin. Yet if God can foresee all possible futures of our free will, God can predict all the future of our free will. Besides, to make sure the future that God loves is the future observed in the future time, God works diligently day in and day out. Almost all the work of heaven is to build the future that God prefers, given our free will to choose right from wrong.   In this process, God has to see into the mind and thinking of all devils and human beings, as one sees into the transparent glass, even before any one of the...